Smart Institutional Intervention in the Adoption of Digital Infrastructure: The Case of Government Cloud Computing in Oman

Cloud computing technology presents a case of centralised digital infrastructure that requires adherence to standards and planned approach for its adoption and implementation. There is little knowledge on how institutions could influence the successful migration to the cloud considering the known challenges of adopting technology infrastructure. This research questions: How can institutions positively influence the adoption of cloud computing services? It examines the case of adopting government cloud computing in Sultanate of Oman. It adopts concepts from institutional theory as a theoretical lens to synthesis and explains empirical results. The study shows the practices that exerted institutional forces and the role they play in the successful adoption and migration to cloud services. It reveals that not all institutional forces carry equal weight in their influence, and this depends on the context of adoption. In the case study, we found that both coercive and mimetic forces to be playing prominent roles in pushing the adoption and migration to the cloud forward easing potential resistance from normative forces. We conceptualise this as a smart intervention that took the context of adoption seriously into consideration and was tailored accordingly. Implications for research and practice are discussed.